If anything, I'd say that Stranger things is a symptom of nerd culture. I mean, look at things like Big Bang Theory. There is no way that show would have hit mainstream without nerd culture being even remotely popular.
And the reasoning behind this sentiment usually is that the jokes in the show are made at the characters' expense - people watching the show laugh at them, not with them.
Agreed. Tabletop rpgs endured in the convention scene, and video games and cosplay revitalized fannish cons, a ton of people were introduced to or reminded that the hobby was something that "people like them" did.
Nerd culture has spread and with it all things nerdy.
Look at the growth of GenCon for one example of how explosive this has been. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gen_Con#Timeline
Board games sales are up 28% in the US http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/from-monopoly-to-explo...
If anything, I'd say that Stranger things is a symptom of nerd culture. I mean, look at things like Big Bang Theory. There is no way that show would have hit mainstream without nerd culture being even remotely popular.